


Sisters, Boyfriends, and James Taylor Cover Songs

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I think it’s so cute that you call her Prentiss.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sisters, Boyfriends, and James Taylor Cover Songs

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, the beginning came to me in a flash and the rest left me hanging. I made due the best I could…the fic goddesses seem to like playing games with my gel pens.

“Prentiss?”

She looked up from her conversation and smiled at her Unit Chief.

“Oh my God, hi. I certainly didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I can say the same.” He replied.

“Are you alone? Why don’t you join us? This is the kind of day that should be shared.”

“I don’t think so. I…” Hotch couldn’t make up an excuse as to why he couldn’t join them but the idea of spending an afternoon with Emily Prentiss and a male companion was right up there on list of things never to do like root canal and climbing Mount Everest.

“You're not alone?” she asked.

“Well…”

“There is certainly enough room on our blanket.” The man said. “The more the merrier.”

“Sometimes three is a crowd.” Hotch replied, clearing his throat. He felt really uncomfortable and had to get out of this. Suddenly his childhood wish of invisibility was back with a vengeance.

“My wife will be back soon.” He said.

“What?”

“Hotch, this is my brother-in-law, Nick. Nicholas Prescott, Aaron Hotchner.”

“Good to meet you.” Nick extended his hand. “Any friend of Em’s is a friend of mine.” He moved some on the blanket. “Please join us.”

“Alright.”

Hotch sat down on the blanket beside Emily and managed a small smile. She returned it with a sweet and beautiful one.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

  
“First, are you hungry?” Nick asked. My wife is around here somewhere getting food so I can have her get you something if you'd like.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.” Hotch said.

“Don’t be silly.” Emily replied. “I’ll call her now.” She took her cell phone off her hip. “Is a burger OK?”

“I guess so, yes.”

Emily pushed one button and waited for her sister to answer. 

“Em?”

“Jules, we have another guest, can you bring him a burger?”

“Who?”

“Hotch.” Emily said.

“ _The_ Hotch?”

“What?”

“ _The_ Aaron Hotchner is on our blanket?”

“We can talk about that later. Just bring him a cheeseburger, OK?”

“Oh, this afternoon just got so much more interesting.” Jules said laughing.

“Whatever.”

“I’ll bring him a cheeseburger.”

“Thank you. Bye.”

Emily hung up and smiled.

  
“Is everything alright?” Hotch asked.

“Mmm hmm, Jules was just being Jules. What are you doing here?”

Here was the Alexandria Folk Music Festival. Every year in Oronoco Bay Park, there was music, food, and a general good time for all ages. Hotch was hoping to be there with Jack for some father-son time but he was battling a bout with the chickenpox. Not wanting to spend a whole day inside alone, Hotch drove over anyway. He remembered when he got there that this was not the best place to be alone. Finding Emily was both a blessing a curse. Maybe he should have stayed home.

“I didn’t know you liked folk music, Prentiss. I thought you liked that guy with the pompadour.” Hotch said.

“Pompadour?” Nick raised an eyebrow.

“I think he is talking about Morrissey.” Emily laughed. “I would think you know me well enough by now to know I like a little of everything, and a lot of some others. The Smiths are amazing but so are Bob Dylan, The Stones, and The Temptations.”

“You like the Temptations?” Hotch asked.

“And you call yourself a profiler.” She winked.

They were not supposed to profile each other, and Hotch did his best to stick to that. Some things they discovered about each other were easy. Sometimes even when you didn’t want to use the skills you learned to look deeper into a person you couldn’t help yourself. Sometimes you wanted to know so much but were almost afraid to ask. No, not afraid to ask, maybe just afraid of what asking would really mean.

“One thing I do know Prentiss, you’re tougher to get to the center of than any Unsub I've ever encountered.”

“I think that’s a compliment.” Nick said.

“So do I.” Emily said.

Julia came back a few minutes later, arms held down by food that her husband helped her with.

  
“I'm Julia.”

“Hotch.” He shook the hand she held out for him. “Photos do you two no justice; you are practically twins.”

“I look nothing like her!” Emily exclaimed.

“Don’t say it as if I have cooties or something.” Julia pinched her little sister. “How many pictures have you seen of us? Oh my God, you did not show him the ones where we dressed up like Wonder Woman and Catwoman did you?”

“I'm afraid I haven’t seen those?” Hotch smiled as Nick handed him a burger and a bottle of water.

“He is only talking about the one on my desk. Your graduation from Princeton…back when you were sporting that perm.”

“Shut up!” Jules exclaimed.

“I thought the perm was cute.” Nick said.

“You were in love,” Julia leaned over and kissed her husband. “You're supposed to. Don’t worry Hotch, you have time to see the monstrous amount of embarrassing photos of the Prentiss sisters. Wait until Natalie gets her hands on you.”

“Natalie is your stepmother right?” Hotch looked at Emily and she silently nodded. Then she glared at her sister.

“Hotch doesn’t have to worry about Natalie and the photo albums of doom.” Emily said.

“Why not?” Jules asked. “Oh no, I won't let it stand that Emily’s boyfriend gets off the hook while Nick had to see those pictures of me in fluffy orange dresses and teased New Jersey hair. At the next family dinner, I will casually slide it in there; Nat will get the hint. Maybe Daddy will even pull out the home videos from Bonn.”

“Jules…”

“Has he seen the Morrissey haircut?” she asked, laughing.

“Jules!”

“You're embarrassing your little sister.” Nick said, though he couldn’t help but laugh. He had been dating Julia since Columbia Grad. She was getting a Masters in Political Science and he in philosophy. He was well acquainted with the inner workings of the Prentiss sisters.

“I didn’t mean to.” She said.

“Oh sure.” Emily punched her sister’s arm. “Hotch is…”

“It’s OK, Prentiss. Surely every one of us would be quite embarrassed if our parents pulled out the home videos.”

“I think it’s cute that you call her Prentiss.” Julia said.

“I guess I don’t use her first name very often. In the field it’s important to maintain professionalism at all times.”

“Hotch,” Emily leaned in his ear to whisper. “Don’t give me sister any rope; she will only use it to hang you.”

He looked at her with wide hazel eyes. He had no idea what that meant. He also didn’t have any idea what he was doing. It was probably better if he stuffed his mouth with the burger instead of his foot.

“Hotch and I are just friends, Jules. We work together…there is nothing else.” The look on Emily’s face told her sister not to push it any further.

“Oh, but I thought…hmm, nevermind.”

Julia smiled at Hotch and went back to her bratwurst. He looked at Emily, hoped the look he gave her was reassuring. He had never been a younger sibling, didn’t quite have the words to make her feel better but he knew the sisters were close. There would probably be retribution at the next family dinner. Why did he want to be there to see what Emily pulled off? Brushing those kinds of thoughts from his mind, Hotch enjoyed the acoustic guitar player on stage and the sun on his skin. Emily sat close, their hands practically touching on the blanket, and the powdery freshness of that perfume she always wore tickled his senses.

“Hotch, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Julia said when the song ended and applause subsided.

“No, but you did a good job of getting Emily.” He replied.

“You're a big brother, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“I can tell. Oldest siblings can sniff each other out a mile away.”

“It takes a lot more to embarrass me, Hotch,” Emily put her hand on his shoulder. “Believe me.”

“And we have the pictures to prove it.”

“Shut up, Jules.”

***

“I’ll have a corndog and a caramel apple please.”

“$7.00.”

Hotch handed over the ten and waited for his change. As they were walking away, he gave Emily her apple.

“Where does it all go?” he asked.

“I'm sorry?”

“I've seen you eat, Prentiss. But your figure…”

“My metabolism is like FloJo. It always has been though my mother and sister both told me that I can forget about it after I have kids.”

“I have a kid and my metabolism is great.” Hotch said.

Emily laughed. She sounded so happy, and when she slid her arm in his Hotch could only smile as she leaned her body on him. They were stretching their legs…sitting on a picnic blanket for a couple of hours was tough work. The park was crowded but the atmosphere was lively and fun. There was a guy on stage now doing James Taylor and he was not disappointing this crowd. Hearing _Handy Man_ really made Hotch remember where he was and who he was close to.

“So, when is the next Prentiss family dinner?” He asked.

“We haven’t had one for September, which is strange. Sometimes getting all of us together is harder to plan than the Geneva Convention. With Jules and Nick and the kids in New York and my being in the field so much, Natalie can hardly plan in advance. I just keep repeating I love my job.”

“You don’t love your job?”

“Oh I do, but 300 days a year practically on the road gets hard. When I was in the Midwest I rarely saw my family. Now I am a breath away and I still don’t.”

“I know how hard that can be.” Hotch said.

They walked on in silence, Emily enjoying the caramel apple. Now the singer, she thought his name was Michael Finch was singing _Your Smiling Face_. He really was good; it wasn’t easy to nail the beautiful nuance of James Taylor’s voice.

“My sister thinks you're my boyfriend.” Emily said.

“I know.”

“That’s embarrassing.”

“Did you tell her I was?”

“No,” she pulled away to look at him. “I would never do something like that. I may make things up to keep my parents off my back but never Jules.”

“Then why would she think it?” Hotch asked.

“Maybe I talk about you too much; the job in general. No, maybe I just talk about you too much.”

“May I make a confession?’

“Please…I've made an ass of myself and a little reciprocity would go a long way, Agent Hotchner.”

“Sean asked me a week ago when I was going to stop fooling around and ask you out.”

“What?” Emily laughed but her laughter surprised even her. “I don’t even know your brother.”

“Well we’re even because I don’t know your sister either. Until today. Maybe if we do what they tell us they will stop asking annoying questions.”

“You want to go out on a date?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously, Hotch.”

Emily stopped walking and leaned against a tree. It was hard not to admire her shapely body in a purple tank top and denim Capris. This time Hotch didn’t turn away. He finished his corndog and smiled at her.

“I like you, Emily Prentiss. There are a million reasons why we shouldn’t go out but one that we should.”

“What's the one?” she asked.

“You feel the same way.”

She tried not to smile but failed. Her grin grew as Hotch leaned close to her, his hand above her head on the bark of the birch tree.

“I know what you're thinking right now.” He said.

“What?”

“That you're bad at this, that I am surely bad at this and together we will combust in a tidal wave of badness. Am I close?”

“Nope.” Emily shook her head.

“Are you not being truthful?”

“I can tell you I'm sure I’ll think that sometime in the near future but it’s not what I'm thinking right now.”

“Alright, let me try again, I am just warming up.”

“Go for it.”

Hotch thought about it for a few moments and then leaned in to kiss her lips. Emily sighed, opening her mouth. She let him deepen the kiss and when their tongues touched Emily felt a jolt of electricity go through her that made her quiver. My God, the man could kiss. She wasn’t even sure how she was still on her feet when finally the need to breathe overpowered the need to possess his mouth. Hotch moved too far away so she pulled him back by holding tight to his Fordham University tee shirt.

“Am I getting warmer?” he whispered.

“Hotter than Hades, actually.” Emily replied. “If only it was as easy as kissing.”

“I don’t kiss just anyone. The last person was my ex-wife.”

“Yeah.”

“You can just say no.” Hotch said.

“Actually, I can do nothing of the sort.”

As the guy who wasn’t James Taylor sang _How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)_ , Emily kissed Hotch again. She hoped he felt the same things she felt even if it seemed too good to be true. She certainly knew when they kissed it felt like he did. Maybe just this once she could let go and see where the clouds she was riding on took her.

  
                                                                          ***                                                                                                                                       

  



End file.
